John Calipari believes Kentucky can make a deep NCAA Tournament run

Just when this Kentucky men’s basketball team looks like everything is finally falling into place, they take a giant leap backward.

The last seven days were the perfect example of that.

Kentucky closed out the regular season with a massive road win over Arkansas despite missing starting point guard Cason Wallace, only to lose to Vanderbilt six days later, 80-73, in the quarterfinals of the 2023 SEC Tournament.

The highest of highs are constantly followed up by the lowest of lows. Considering the NCAA Tournament is now right around the corner, this isn’t the time to still be searching for an identity. It feels like Kentucky plays its best basketball when no one expects them to win, evidenced by the upset win at Arkansas, a pair of underdog victories against Tennessee, and a 32-point blowout win vs. Auburn earlier in the season.

But the inverse also appears to be true, as it was on Friday night. Kentucky has now lost to Vanderbilt twice in a matter of nine days after winning the previous 14 meetings dating back to the 2016-17 season. The Wildcats have also suffered a Quad 4 loss and two Quad 3 losses this season. Over a five-month span from November to March, no one ever had an idea of which Kentucky team was going to show up on any given night, no matter how well or poorly they were playing heading into that matchup.

“They play better when they have nothing to lose,” Head coach John Calipari said of his group after Friday’s loss. “And I call it stinkin’ thinkin’. You can’t worry about how you’re playing or missing a shot, you just lock into the team. Do what the team needs to do. When we play that way we’re as good as anybody in the country. When we start thinking too much, I miss a shot, I miss a free throw, I struggle playing. We gotta get through that.

“But we’ve shown who we are. We can beat anybody and I hate to tell you but we can get beat by anybody too if we’re not fighting and playing desperate, playing like we were saying. Refuse to lose, just do what you got to do. Didn’t do it today.”

The question now becomes which Kentucky team shows up for the final postseason run. There will certainly be plenty to lose regardless of where the Selection Committee slots the ‘Cats in the field of 68 come Sunday afternoon. The pressure to win an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2019 will play a factor. But at the same time, this type of situation has oddly been when Kentucky thrives the most

“That’s what we’re going to talk about right there,” Calipari said. “Every time we’ve taken a spill, the whole country jumps on us, it seems like they come back with a vengeance. That is the plan.”

Kentucky is still in line to earn a top-seven seed in the NCAA Tournament, which should give the ‘Cats a favorable first-round matchup. With a couple of extra days to heal up the many injuries riddling the roster, the possibility of playing in the second weekend of March Madness isn’t a pipe dream. Two different four-game winning streaks throughout January and February have shown that Kentucky is capable of stringing together successful stretches.

“I still believe in this team and I think this team could go on a deep run,” Calipari added.

Believing is a much easier task than executing, though.